All posts tagged "java"

Thursday, April 12, 2012

"Apple released Java for OS X 2012-003 Thursday afternoon, a software update that removes 'the most common variants of the Flashback malware.' Thursday's update was foreshadowed by an announcement on Apple's support page Tuesday."

You can download the update here, and this is the 3rd one in a week that Apple has issued. This update also disables the automatic execution of applets, and if you restore them and then don't use applets for an "extended period of time," it will automatically disable them again. In other news, it appears that this might not be as widespread as initially thought.

Monday, April 9, 2012

"We've entered a new era in Mac security, but there's no need to panic."

With an estimated 500,000 Macs infected, it appears this is the most widespread virus ever for the Mac. But Apple has been putting out the patches and this article will give you a good run through on what to do in order to protect yourself. Or, if you are already infected, it will help you clean up your system.

Actually they released two, one for 10.5 called "Java Update 7" and one for 10.6 called "Java Update 2." The MacObserver story has even more info on this update, probably more than you will want to read to be honest, since these updates basically fix a couple of security holes that allow arbitrary code to be executed by Java applets.

Friday, December 4, 2009

"If you thought you just heard a disturbance in the Force-as if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced-then take a deep breath and relax: it's just a pair of Java software updates for Mac OS X."

Java for OS X 10.6, update 1 as well as Java for OS X 10.5, update 6 are both available via the software update feature, or direct from Apple. From the article,"The Leopard update, which requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 brings J2SE 5.0 to 1.5.0_22 and Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_17; J2SE 1.4.2 is disabled by default in this update, as it's no longer being updated. The 78MB Snow Leopard update brings Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_17 as well, and requires Mac OS X 10.6.2."

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

"After being goaded by the online security community last month to respond faster to software vulnerabilities, Apple on Monday finally fixed a longstanding flaw in the Java code that the company ships with its Mac OS X operating system."

This has gone on for about 6 months or so, according to Intego, a company that makes security products for Macs. They say Apple knew about it about five months prior to the May announcement by Intego of it's existence. According to Intego, "the flaw could allow a Java applet to execute malicious code on affected Macs, potentially leading to information theft or a compromised system."

Well, it is fixed now according to a release by Apple. There are two separate updates, one for 10.5 and one for 10.4 so you are covered if you use either Tiger or Leopard. You can also get the patch via the Software Update feature on your Mac.